Alvarez, who lost to Aoki several years back in Japan, returned the favor on his home turf, TKOing the submission specialist just over two minutes into the opening round. Unfortunately, the fight couldn’t deliver the same knockout in Bellator’s TV ratings.

Bellator is currently housed on MTV2, which isn’t exactly know for its sports programming. The promotion moves over to sister network Spike TV, the former longtime home of the UFC, in 2013, where official from both Spike and Bellator expect the ratings to improve significantly.